Friday’s reflections: How hard does a head whack have to be to make a cardiologist nice?

How long did Henry’s revelation last?

How long did he stay “nice” after his head injury.

For me, it has only been 5 days since  “I whacked my head so hard, it turned me nice.”

The frenetic pace this week, and especially today, has been a real test of such ‘concussive niceness.’

In doctoring, weeks that keep your head spinning are part of the game. As a matter of rule, medicine has an unpredictable ebb and flow. The most common cause of these phenomena, like ‘heart-block storm’ for instance, is purely chance.  (I’ll never forget the Saturday years ago when I did 5 pacemakers; neither will the pacer-rep.) At other times, physician staffing is the problem–partners go on vacation.  And lately, with the advent of higher deductible health plans, as year-end approaches, patients who have met their yearly deductibles are much more apt to get “things taken care of.”

Sitting here in the calm of the evening, contemplative, before sleep approaches, one can see this “Friday” phenomenon with far better acuity than when in the midst of the storm.   A storm where one more stupid question, one more surgical clearance, one more “Dr (from the insurance-company cubicle) wants to ask you about that stress test you ordered,” could capsize the boat which holds your sanity.

The challenge is to remain calm in this sea of inflammation.  Withhold the growls, the stomps or the regrettable statements.  The buddhists say nothing is permanent.  All pain ceases.

“I am nice…I am nice…yes, surely, I am nice.”  

If I think it so, repetitively, will it be so?

Can you head thump the ‘cardiology’ out of person?

We shall see.

Good night, Friday.

JMM